I was walking past my local fire station recently which always looks a bit mysterious because of the darkened windows and there never being any visible activity inside. So it got me thinking, what are the people inside doing when they’re not heading out to fight fires?

  • Pencilnoob@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    1 day ago

    At my volunteer station, we all just go to work like normal and respond if there’s a call.

    We do have some part time staff who remain at the station for EMS calls. When there’s down time they are:

    • cleaning the station
    • filling out charts from earlier calls
    • checking all the apparatus equipment
    • training skills
    • homework from advanced classes (paramedic, rescue technician, officer, etc)
    • napping to catch up on sleep from calls in the middle of the night
    • doing station laundry

    It’s enough to keep them lightly busy but not enough to be strenuous, as they typically do 12-24 hour shifts. Being “at work” for 24 hours is pretty rough, so I don’t begrudge them a mid-day nap.